Live Review :: The Snuts + Lacuna Bloome :: Green Door Store, Brighton - Sep 18 2019

Live

The Snuts + Lacuna Bloome

Green Door Store, Brighton

September 18 2019

Words/Pictures: Steve Willcox

On an early autumnal night in Brighton there’s a buzz in the air down under the railway arches that houses (along with rats and rubbish) the Green Door Store: The Snuts are in town! When they played in the city back in May at The Great Escape, their set - in a church - had praise heaped upon it from on high for the raucous delivery that echoed up to the rafters and beyond.

Since then the West Lothian four-piece have become something of a legend in their own tour van, winning over festival crowds around the country, and even being described as "the best guitar band you’ll see" by one promoter. Now they are midway through a sold out UK tour.

It's a big ask to have to open for such an act, but locals Lacuna Bloome, who bring their indie shoegaze-pop to the early crowd, pull out the stops as soon as the opening bars of ‘Alright’  their lo-fi second single release, echoes around the venue, drawing in more punters through its romantic lyricism and lush melodies.

Singles ‘I Am’ and ‘Find Your Way’ are played with passion to a swaying crowd. Vocalist/guitarist Niall Logue talks to the crowd about “our shoegaze moment!” as they embark on the beautufully hued ‘Pink Sky’, a song which shows the band's maturity and strength. New single ‘Plastic’ - released this week - excites the crowd eager to listen to its upbeat rhythm and soaring guitars. Ending with appropriately titled ‘Fin’ and earning a well-deserved round of applause from the crowd, this band has made some new fans tonight.

With a few cans of lager and the biggest bottle of Buckfast to be seem this side of Glasgow on the stage, you just know The Snuts are about to come on. Only halfway through the sold out tour shows the massive support behind this band - which nearly ended before it began, when on just the second gig in Sheffield, a welcoming bottle of lager was thrown at the stage just missing vocalist Jack Cochrane by an inch, smashing against the wall behind him.

Opening with the thumping bass of their explosive slice of rock 'n' roll, ‘All Your Friends’, soon gets this wall-to-wall crowd behind them as it slowly builds up to its dancing guitar chorus. ‘Glasgow’ rouses the Scottish fans amongst the throng to push towards the front as Jack and guitarist Joe McGillveray battle for the most dramatic guitar moves on stage award, showing that despite its lyric line, "Will you stand on stage when they disengage from your song", that was not going to be happening tonight.

Fan favourite, the blistering ‘Seasons’, a song about four mates going out and finding themselves, gets the crowd rocking with its surging chorus, before new single ‘Maybe California' ups the ante even further, with the crowd en masse bouncing with its laid back rock groove and Jordan McKay's steady drum hits pushing the beats into the dancing fray.  Elsewhere, ‘Manhattan Project’ - "a tale of relief after a disaster. It’s a combination of war and romance wrapped up tightly inside a 2018 indie anthem” - is a belting tune with Jack's edgy vocals hitting a nerve in the room as moshing escalates into a frenzy as the song bites like a rabid dog.

Jack picks up the acoustic guitar as the band go for a “piss break” as he puts it, takes a big gulp of Buckfast before doing a sublime solo version of ‘Mixer’ and then covering Bob Dylan’s ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright’. Some boisterous lads start chanting “Seagulls” (Brighton's footie team ) to the bemusement of the frontman who can’t quite fathom it out yet, while the band quietly gets back on stage and play the intro of ‘Fatboy Slim’, instantly igniting the baying crowd with Callum Wilson’s bass thundering through its infectious melody. ‘Don’t Forget It’ doesn’t let that pace drop as the pumping beats gets the room even more worked up.

‘What’s Going On?’ has the fans totally under Jack's control as they sing the chorus back to him: “What’s going on? / With the boys are you still part of the noise? / What’s going on?/ With your girl, is she expecting the world?"
With ‘Summertime’, its slow start soon builds to an anthemic crescendo of sound that bounces off the walls with Jack's powerful vocals and Joe’s soaring guitars ramming the song home.

Set closer, ‘Sing For Your Supper’, has the band firing on all cylinders and this sweaty crowd produces one last drop of dancing energy to give The Snuts a send off they won’t forget in a hurry. If you get the chance to see these guys live - do it! You won't regret it.